The Role of HEXACO Personality Traits in Predicting the Speaking Ability of the Male and Female EFL Learners

This study investigated the predictive role of HEXACO personality traits (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) in the speaking performance of Iranian EFL learners, and the role of gender in the relationship between HEXACO personality traits and EFL learners’ speaking ability. To this end, 250 learners (125 male and 125 female learners) were selected using a random cluster sampling method and were asked to complete the HEXACO personality traits questionnaire. The speaking ability of all the learners was checked via a scored interview. The speaking ability of the learners were evaluated by three interviewers (the researcher and two raters) based on the IELTS speaking bands. Fisher's Z and multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that extraversion, conscientiousness, and altruism could predict 90.3 percent of variance in the speaking ability of the participants. The findings also showed that the gender of the language learners did not have a predicting role in the relationship between personality traits of the language learners and their speaking ability.